


love grows, and grows

by Voidromeda



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Oblivious, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-27 21:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20052658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voidromeda/pseuds/Voidromeda
Summary: Akira likes to plan things out, and they are flexible with their times and all the things they wish to do. All of their notes are meticulous, careful, and they appreciate it whenever their friends give them a heads-up for when they want to come over.Yusuke likes to throw a wrench in things. Akira isn't entirely sure why.





	love grows, and grows

**Author's Note:**

> I like notebooks.
> 
> Please forgive any typos, mistakes, or errors; I wrote this between 2am - 5:50 am.

If Yusuke is any other person, Akira thinks with some degree of amusement, then they are sure that he will feel even vaguely embarrassed that they keep intruding upon LeBlanc. Even Ryuji has the decency to be apologetic when he realises how often he crashes into his place to watch movies, TV shows, or to read manga – even if Akira just forgives him and tells him to gives a heads up whenever he wishes to visit. With Yusuke, it is always a gamble over whether or not he will come over today – he wakes up to Sojiro bellowing out that a friend is visiting more often than not thanks to Yusuke, their schedule not really lining up to let them wake up early and look decent. It isn’t as if their artiste of a friend cares, necessarily, but they still need to adhere to politeness and not look like a mess come to life when they stumble down the stairs in their haste to greet Yusuke.

“I care not whether you are decent or indecent,” Yusuke always reassures, unnecessarily, with that deep timbre, “I wish only to see you well, Akira-san. Now, then, I have the funds for one small cup of coffee – may you serve me one?” a smile will, predictably, spread out on his face when he asks that, hand reaching for the wallet that Akira buys him at some point during their friendship (they buy it as a joke, a _Hello Kitty _wallet, and Yusuke _loves _it), and excitement clear on his expression.

Sojiro huffs in amusement and acquiesces to Yusuke’s request every single time, and Akira only ever sells coffee to him as a result.

There is no guarantee that Akira will necessarily hang out with Yusuke – they have a planner full of meticulous notes and a chore list, as well as time set-aside for them to indulge in their hobbies. Yusuke doesn’t mind not fitting into that schedule, it seems; “I don’t mind,” he says, voice as soft as silky sheets, “just having a cup of coffee brewed by you is enough.” a pause, just a second for him to collect himself, then he will give them that unreadable, small smile and say, “yes, just that is enough for me.”

It doesn’t lessen the guilt any, but Akira tries to at the very least spare five minutes to sit with Yusuke while he draws, charcoal staining his thin, spidery fingers and joy oozing from every pore in his body. They wonder, always, what it is that gives Yusuke such peace – is it because the true painting of his mother is on the wall? Cradling her depiction of her son…? They never ask, not wanting to step over the invisible line that seems to separate them from Yusuke, and he never really mentions the painting anyway.

The best outcome is when Yusuke unintentionally comes along at the same time as someone else – be it Ann, Ryuji or both – and either all three or four of them will hang out. Their room is small, feeling cramped with the extra three people, and Morgana doesn’t help matters any whenever he decides to grace them and their friends with his presence – yet there is a warmth here that the attic usually lacks, a feeling of wholeness. It feels better when they are able to hang out with Yusuke proper like this, too. Even if it is by pure chance and with one or two others.

“You need to give me a heads up of when you want to come over.” Akira says to Yusuke one day when he pops in unexpectedly, as he is wont to do. Yusuke simply takes a seat at one of the booths, sketchbook in hand, his bag hanging from his shoulder, and eyes enthusiastically expectant. He doesn’t even have to ask as Akira is already handing him his coffee and Sojiro is grumbling under his breath about them ‘giving it away for damn free.’ “I’d like to actually hang out with my friend, instead of just having him sit here all alone.”

Yusuke takes a small sip of his coffee – sweetened with coconut milk and vanilla extract, with the tiniest bit of nutmeg at his behest – and he smiles around the rim, humming in satisfaction. Akira brings a hand up to cover their own lips, hiding away the small grin that spreads every single time Yusuke is even the slightest bit satisfied with their work. He takes his sweet time answering, though it isn’t as if Akira has anything to do this morning – today is their ‘off’ day, where they decide to be free until noon and then do everything later in the afternoon and in the evening. It is just by chance that Yusuke happens to fit in, for once.

Akira hopes for that to happen more often, if this talk goes well enough.

“Would that make it easier for you?” Yusuke says after a while, not really giving Akira a satisfactory answer – though, with his eccentricity, they aren’t necessarily surprised. “I suppose it would, would it not? You would neatly pen me down in that little planner of yours and I could have you for half or the entire day, Akira-san. Ah, which reminds me – have you bought a new planner already?”

They shake their head. “No, we’re only halfway through the year, so.” Akira shrugs, and Yusuke brightens up considerably at that. He reaches into his messenger bag after he sets his coffee down, a smile dancing on his lips and his humming this time is of joy, not satisfaction. They tilt their head to the side and just watch Yusuke for a bit, eyeing his slight, slender form and they consider coming over to his dorm just to cook for him. He really needs to eat more food – he is skinnier than even Ann, and she _forces _herself to be that way for her modeling job.

His hand slides out and with it follows a high-end notebook – a thick, black thing, hardbound with moleskin covering it, and Akira’s eyes widen. It has a pen neatly slotting over the front cover, black and gold, and Yusuke sets it down onto the table next to his coffee and immediately goes digging into his bag once more. Seconds later, a smaller notebook – a soft, pastel yellow with white rabbits adorning it - joins the first and Yusuke daintily sets it down on a slant atop the moleskin one.

“Aren’t those expensive?” Akira asks immediately, before Yusuke can even get a word in, and he blinks in surprise. “Both notebooks – they’re expensive, right? I’ve seen them before, oh…”

Yusuke huffs in amusement. “Yes, I have been budgeting for a while to be able to buy this. Ah, before you worry yourself – I did part-time for a little, and then did small commissions for some of the adults within my school.” he says and nods proudly, and Akira almost wants to deck him for it. Simply because they aren’t sure if they are proud of Yusuke actually budgeting for once, or if they are a bit peeved that he didn’t budget for himself. “The second one is a planner, and the first one… well, it is a gift, really. An…”

He stops, eyes glancing down to stare at his slowly cooling coffee, then he closes his eyes and takes on that pensive, yet peaceful expression of his. “It doesn’t matter what it is,” Yusuke says quietly, so quiet that Akira almost misses it, and he opens his eyes and looks up just to capture theirs, something in his look stealing their breath away, “please, would you take them both?”

They want to say no.

Instead they slide into the booth, opposite of Yusuke, and gingerly take both notebooks. The planner feels a bit heavier than their own, the cover surprisingly firmer than they expect, and Akira bends over, trying to hide their expression from Yusuke. They spend some time thumbing at the covers of both notebooks, an irrational fear keeping them from opening them up just in case they mess up somehow, even though really – they are just _notebooks. _But these are expensive, sturdy and gorgeous notebooks, notebooks that Akira eyes but cannot buy because they aren’t within their price range.

Notebooks that Yusuke gets for him because he notices… he notices on that one outing. Akira has to fight back the rather irrational urge to hug the notebooks to their chest.

“Hey,” Akira says, “do you mind if I come visit you at your dorm? Cook for you, maybe?”

That seems to catch Yusuke completely off-guard. He stumbles over his words and almost drops his coffee, much to Akira’s growing horror, but thankfully he set his cup down before he gives himself any serious, major burns. He clears his throat. Then he clears it again. He coughs into his fist. Finally, he settles on a very eloquently said, “sure.” and Akira has to hold back their laughter that is desperately trying to escape, loud and overjoyed, at Yusuke’s silly reaction.

They both sit in silence after that – Akira brings a book out and tries to read it, hoping to start it to see whether or not it is worth their time to finish it, and Yusuke spends his time sketching something away. The only time something changes is when Akira stands up to make more coffee for Yusuke after he asks, adding more to the already strong aroma in LeBlanc, and Sojiro has this knowing glint in his eyes that makes them pause for a second. When noon comes around, Akira excuses themself and Yusuke nods absentmindedly, as if he doesn’t even notice that they say anything to him in the first place. Leaving Yusuke to his work, Akira heads upstairs to go change and takes the notebook and planner with them.

Curiosity eats at them, so they finally decide to open the high-end notebook and nearly drops it when they do.

On the very first page, on the blank, thick and yellow paper, written bold and big and in Yusuke’s handwriting, is a simple confession that makes Akira’s heart speed up and their face go a deep, dark red. They change and dress as quickly as possible, shove the notebook in their bag and they almost forget about Morgana. “Ne, why’re you in a hurry?” he asks but Akira’s voice won’t work, and Morgana’s head cants to the side curiously.

They make their way downstairs, passing by a Yusuke who is now reading the newspaper, and Akira happens to meet his gaze by chance. Their face boils over once more, their hands flying up to cover their face, and a soft, rosy flush makes itself known on Yusuke’s face as well – not as severe as Akira’s, for sure, but still a realisation on his end that Akira reads their little confession. He gives them a sunshine smile and Akira rams their face into the door before finally managing to step out.

Once outside, Akira takes deep breaths to try and cool their head, though the Summer heat doesn’t really help any and their heart is as fast as a rabbit in their chest. Their face is still clearly hot and red, judging by how it feels when they place their hands back on their cheeks, though they can’t tell if it is because they have a face-first collision with the door or if it is because they are still flustered over what Yusuke writes down in that notebook. How do they not notice that Yusuke has –

Oh, my Gosh. Yusuke has been –

_They are such an idiot._

Akira sends a quick text to Yusuke, letting him know that his feelings are heard and that they understand how he feels, and they fumble – badly – to let Yusuke know that they don’t mind – they will really like… it will make them happy to –

It takes forever for them to let Yusuke know how they feel, and by the time they send the text they are over ten minutes late to schedule and have been standing outside of the coffee shop for far, far too long. They rush away and nearly trip on their own heels after they check their watch, hearing the chime of the door behind them yet missing the gaze on their back as they run off to do their self-appointed errands for the day.

“Took ‘em some time, huh?” Sojiro says as he steps outside with Yusuke, an unlit cigarette in hand and a contemplative look on his face. “What’d’ya do to finally break through to ‘em, huh?”

Yusuke crosses his arms, a wide [and frankly scary, in Sojiro’s opinion] grin on his face as he stares at Akira’s retreating back until they are gone from sight. “I merely left behind a note for Akira-san to read,” Yusuke says smoothly, “though I suppose that I did not expect for them to read it so soon. It is true that curiosity killed the cat, is it not?”

Sojiro chuckles, scratches the back of his head, then excuses himself to go back inside. Yusuke heads back in as well and then takes his leave once he has everything in his bag; Sojiro rejects his money once more when he tries to pay for the coffees that Akira makes for him, and he considers this a rather good day, all things considering.

_‘For a person so intelligent,’ _Yusuke thinks to himself while he looks at the messages from Akira, unable to stop the overwhelming feeling of love from taking over as he reads over the texts, _‘they are absolutely oblivious when it comes to such feelings of love and romance. To think they did not get it until bluntly told so… how adorable.’_

He hopes Akira comes home soon – he wants to go on a date with them, their first ever actual date together, and make it as special and as romantic as possible. Maybe he will even have Akira modeling for him? It will be better than drawing them from glimpses and memories – it will be much, much better.

Today is a good day, isn’t it?

_“Akira-san, I am in love with you. Forgive me my boldness and the lacking sophistication behind such a blunt statement, but that is the truth. I hope to someday be part of your life, to become an unexpected, surprising addition to it. Though perhaps forever is an exaggeration not suitable for us of this profession, I wish to be with you for as long as you permit. Yours truly, Kitagawa Yusuke.”_

**Author's Note:**

> If for some reason you wish to contact me or see what I am doing:
> 
> [ Pillowfort ](https://www.pillowfort.social/transistor) | [ Tumblr. ](https://transistories.tumblr.com/) | [Twitter.](https://twitter.com/EmptyHeartLover)


End file.
